Caitlin Clark jokes she looks ‘soft’ after watching ankle injury replay

Clark appeared to be in a lot of pain after turning her ankle in the first quarter of Monday night’s Fever win over the Dream — but she laughed off the injury postgame.

Caitlin Clark appeared be pretty severely hurt after turning her ankle in a the first quarter of Monday night’s Fever win against the Dream. She laid on the floor in pain for a while — and needed some help getting back to the bench — but returned to the game shortly after and played the rest of the way.

Clark finished the game with 19 points, 7 assists, 7 rebounds, 2 steals, and a block, and the Fever pulled out an 87-79 win over the Dream.

Sitting at the postgame podium alongside Fever head coach Christy Sides and teammate Kelsey Mitchell, Clark said she looked “really soft” in the replay, spurring Mitchell to crack up laughing.

“Yeah, I saw the replay, I looked really soft,” Clark said, per Chloe Peterson. “It wasn’t that bad of a turn, but it hurt. So sometimes you just need to give yourself a second. If you’ve ever sprained your ankle it just stings for a little bit.”

Clark opted to stay on the sidelines and get the ankle re-taped, rather than head back to the locker room.

“I was good,” she said. “They were like, ‘Do you want to go in the back?’ I’m like, ‘No, please just tape right here, let’s go. We’ve got to keep going.’”

It was a significant win for the Fever, who hold onto the 7th seed and now have a 2.5 game lead over the Sky. Indiana has gone 11-6 since June 13, after starting 3-10. Kelsey Mitchell was crucial in the victory, posting 29 points and 7 rebounds. Aaliyah Boston added 14 points, 11 rebounds, and 6 assists.

With the loss, the Dream fall one game out of the playoff picture with less than a month left in the regular season.